The 18-year-old driver did more than just earn the first victory ever for Brad Keselowski Racing.

And Blaney did more than just establish himself as one of the future stars of NASCAR.

He also repaid his father, Sprint Cup driver Dave Blaney.

Dave Blaney established himself as a racing champion with 19 years in sprint-car racing, which included several USAC Silver Crown and World of Outlaws championships. He then spent nine years in NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series, racing for such teams as Bill Davis Racing, Jasper Motorsports and Richard Childress Racing.

For the past four years, he has driven for underfunded teams owned by Phil Parsons and Tommy Baldwin. In 2009 and 2010, he had to start-and-park at times because the team did not have enough money to run the entire race.

Why did the veteran driver agree to do that? Partly to earn extra money so that his son could go race.

That funding helped develop Ryan Blaney, who turned some heads by winning the K&N Pro Series West race at Phoenix last year and then attracted even more attention with an eighth-place finish for Tommy Baldwin Racing in the Nationwide race at Richmond in April.

Those performances earned him a development contract with Penske Racing and, in step, the ride in Keselowski’s truck.

“Winning is probably the best payment in his mind, giving back to him in that way,” Ryan Blaney said in a phone interview. “I know that. I know all the time and the money and all the hard work he’s done to get me to where I’m at. … It’s really nice to see that pay off and the big smile on his face at the end of the day.”

Ryan got to see the smile on his father’s face in victory lane at Iowa.

“He was really excited,” Ryan said. “I didn’t go to Chicago (for the Sprint Cup race) the next day but everyone on the Baldwin team said that was the happiest they’ve seen him in a while.

“It was very cool to know he was happy. Hopefully we can make him a lot happier this weekend.”

Ryan Blaney will drive the BKR truck as well as the Penske Racing No. 22 Nationwide car in the doubleheader at Kentucky Speedway this weekend. While he races, his father will be at New Hampshire Motor Speedway to practice and qualify Penske’s No. 22 Cup car because Sam Hornish Jr. also will be in Kentucky.

“I’m just glad I was (in Iowa) to see it,” Dave Blaney said. “I got to see his first K&N win last fall. He does a really nice job and he’s coming along so quick, it’s just cool to be a part of it.”

While Dave molded his racing talent in open-wheel cars on dirt tracks across the country, Ryan knows mostly NASCAR as his family moved to North Carolina when he was young. Ryan has only driven a sprint car a couple of times and wishes he could race more.

But his stock-car career is taking off, and Ryan is ready to continue to see where it goes. He still feels some pressure, even though he has landed a development contract with Penske, which was his goal when the started the season.

“We’ve gotten to the spot with a big team being a development guy for Penske, but at the same time you have to prove that you deserve to be there and you deserve the spot that you’ve got,” Ryan said. “I don’t think there is any added pressure. That is just motivation to me to show everyone that I belong there.”